The invention relates to a process and an apparatus for detecting, and to a process and an apparatus for eliminating, defective and/or incorrectly positioned, in particular transversely located, cigarettes in the cigarette magazine of a cigarette-production and/or cigarette-packaging machine.
Cigarette production and/or cigarette packaging machines usually have a cigarette store in which cigarettes, as they move downwards, end up being located transversely to the rest of the cigarettes and can block individual shafts or shaft groups located beneath the storage part. The following cigarettes can then no longer pass into the respective shafts or shaft groups. This results in the respective shafts or shaft groups being put out of action. The task of eliminating such disruptions is laborious and costly since it is usually necessary to switch off the machine.
In order to avoid costly steps involved in eliminating disruptions to a blocked shaft or shaft group, an operator usually watches the cigarette magazine and removes any transversely positioned cigarette with long pincers. Here there is a risk of human error since, on account of the monotony of the task, the operator""s attention decreases over time. Furthermore, disruptions which remain undetected may take place when the operator is absent.
The problem on which the invention is based is thus to improve the avoidance of disruptions in the cigarette magazine.
In order to solve this problem, a detection process according to the invention is characterized in that, using at least one optical checking element, at least one image of a plurality of cigarettes located in the cigarette magazine is detected, the image is evaluated by an image-processing device andxe2x80x94if, during the evaluation, the scanned image is established as deviating from a reference image and/or from at least one reference valuexe2x80x94an error signal is produced.
A detection apparatus according to the invention is characterized by an optical checking element, in particular a camera, which is arranged in the region of the cigarette magazine and is intended for scanning at least one image of a plurality of cigarettes located in the cigarette magazine, by an image-processing device for evaluating the image and by means by which an error signal can be produced if the scanned image is established as deviating from a reference image and/or from at least one reference value.
The advantage of this process and of this apparatus is the monitoring of a relatively large area of cigarettes rather than merely individual cigarette ends, since this provides an overview of the orientation of the cigarettes. Provision is thus made for detecting an image of a relatively large area of the cigarette magazine, namely a plurality of cigarettes, and for subjecting this to image processing. Finally, using image-processing methods, deviations from reference images and/or reference values can be established and, if necessary, a corresponding error signal can be produced. This makes it possible to detect transversely located cigarettes.
Furthermore, this process and this apparatus may also be used to register defective cigarettes in addition to incorrectly positioned cigarettes. For example, in the case where images of filter cigarettes are stored, a missing filter can be diagnosed by image processing. However, it is also possible to register bent or broken cigarettes, since these too constitute a deviation from a reference image.
A disruption detected in this way can be eliminated automatically or manually. With a manual elimination of disruption, the error signal is preferably emitted acoustically or optically, e.g. by a siren or horn or by a warning light. Such a signal then tells the operator to intervene. However, errors may also be eliminated automatically.
In order to solve the problem further, an elimination process according to the invention is characterized in that a defective and/or incorrectly positioned cigarette is detected, in particular in accordance with one of the processes described above, and, in reaction to such detection, an ejecting unit arranged in the region of the magazine is actuated in order to eject a plurality of cigarettes located in an ejecting zone assigned to the ejecting unit.
An elimination apparatus according to the invention is characterized by at least one, or in particular a plurality of, adjacent ejecting unit which are arranged in the region of the magazine and are intended for ejecting a plurality of cigarettes located in an ejecting zone assigned to an ejecting unit. The number of cigarettes ejected in this case is large enough for a transversely located cigarette to be ejected in full.
A plurality of adjacent ejecting zones with a corresponding number of ejecting units are preferably provided. This has the advantage that it is not necessary to eject the cigarettes over the entire width of the cigarette magazine. It may thus be the case that a transversely located cigarette extends over two ejecting zones. In this case, preferably two adjacent ejecting units are actuated and a correspondingly larger number of cigarettes is ejected.